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Bin Laden Blames UN For Suffering - Empire? - Global Policy Forum Bin Laden Blames UN For Suffering
By Carol Rosenberg
Ottawa Citizen
November , 2001
Osama bin Laden turned his ire on the United Nations yesterday, slamming it as a root of Muslim suffering and scorning Arab leaders as infidels in league with the world body.
In a videotaped message, he focused on a Muslim sore spot -- the Palestinian crisis, created with Israel's birth in 1948 by UN sanction, a theme the Saudi-born fugitive has increasingly sounded as he tries to rally the Islamic world behind his al-Qaeda network.
But the timing and release of his statement also was significant. The criticism of Arab leaders may reflect anger over Turkey's decision to send 90 elite troops to Afghanistan to help train anti-Taliban forces, making it the first Muslim nation to devote resources to the U.S. campaign. Turkey's decision was announced Thursday, meaning Mr. bin Laden's videotape likely was made very recently. And that would mean that Mr. bin Laden's public relations apparatus is intact despite nearly a month of U.S.-led strikes designed to cripple Afghanistan's Taliban militia for harbouring the man Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
"Those who claim to be Arab leaders and whose countries are UN members are infidels who renounced the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed's teachings when they resorted to international legitimacy instead of resorting to the Koran," Mr. bin Laden said.
"We have suffered and continue to suffer because of the UN, and no Muslim or sensible person should turn to the UN because it is an instrument of crime."
"Muslims are slaughtered every day and the United Nations does not lift a finger," he added.
The Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite news channel aired the tape yesterday, both in excerpts and once in its entirety, beaming it to Arabic subscribers -- a significant chunk of Mr. bin Laden's intended audience of 1.2 billion Muslims the world over. Excerpts of the tape were played infrequently on stations in the United States.
Al-Jazeera said the tape was dropped off at its Kabul bureau, but did not say when.
Soft-spoken and unemotional, Mr. bin Laden appeared in a white turban and with a green and beige camouflage jacket over his traditional white gown. He stood against a brown burlap backdrop, looking more gaunt than earlier images. An AK-47 assault rifle served as a prop.
It was his second taped appearance since the bombing began Oct. 7. In between, an al-Qaeda spokesman has appeared on other tapes, calling on supporters to attack Americans everywhere.
Mr. bin Laden has long argued that Muslims must unite under the banner of Islamic law, called shariyah, to drive non-believers and U.S.-friendly Muslim leaders from lands containing Islamic holy places. Key targets are Jerusalem and in his native Saudi Arabia, which stripped him of citizenship in 1994.
Yesterday he slammed as "hypocrites" Arab leaders who seek to solve the region's problems through the United Nations. "Our suffering is caused by the UN," he said.
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